New analysis: More Americans to face tax penalty under health law

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Nearly six million Americans, most of them middle-income workers, will face a tax penalty under President Obama’s health overhaul for not getting insurance, Congressional analysts said Wednesday.

That estimate, from analysts at the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, is significantly higher than their previous projection, calculated in 2010 shortly after the law passed.

The earlier estimate found four million people would be affected in 2016, when the penalty is fully in effect. The budget office expects the penalty to be about $1,200 on average in that first year.

“The bad news and broken promises from Obamacare just keep piling up,” said Representative Dave Camp, Republican of Michigan and chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, who wants to repeal the law.

Starting in 2014, almost every legal resident of the United States will be required to carry health insurance or face a tax penalty, with exemptions for financial hardship, religious objections and certain other circumstances.

A spokeswoman for the Health and Human Services Department, Erin Shields Britt, said 98 percent of Americans would not be affected by the tax penalty — and suggested that those who will be should face up to their civic responsibilities.

The new analysis “doesn’t change the basic fact that the individual responsibility policy will only affect people who can afford health care but choose not to buy it,” she said.

The budget office said most of the increase in its estimate could be attributed to changes in underlying projections about the economy and to the effects of new federal legislation.

Last modified: September 20, 2012
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